US airstrike kills Iran-backed militia leader in Baghdad, report

A U.S. airstrike in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Thursday killed a high-ranking member of the Popular Mobilization Force, a collection of Iran-backed militias, officials said.

The Popular Mobilization Force, which is nominally controlled by Iraq's military, said Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, the group's deputy head of operations in Baghdad, was killed "as a result of brutal American aggression," according to The Associated Press.

A U.S. official confirmed to the wire service that U.S. forces on Monday hit a vehicle in Baghdad carrying members of Harakat al-Nujaba, a militia member of the mobilization force that the U.S. had designated as a terror group.

An Iraqi military spokesperson said U.S.-led International Coalition Forces were responsible for the "unprovoked attack on an Iraqi security body operating in accordance with the powers granted to it by" Iraq.

The strike reportedly killed two people and wounded five others.

The U.S.-led coalition's primary goal is to fight the Islamic State, which separately claimed responsibility for a bombing Wednesday that killed 84 in Iran.

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